Anyone wishing to use this flier or brochure for outreach to potential voters is free to do so without further permission.

Are you registered to vote? Do you need to change your address? Have you changed your name?

WHO CAN REGISTER:

New Hampshire residents who will be 18 years of age or older on election day, and a United States citizen, may register to vote. 17-year-olds who will be 18 by the date of the next scheduled election may register to vote.

New Hampshire doesn't have a length of residency requirement for voting. Even if you moved here recently, you may vote if this is the place where you are living now, not just vacationing or visiting. You may claim only one place as the place you live for voting purposes.

WHO NEEDS TO REGISTER:

If you are already registered in the town or the ward of the city where you live now, you don't need to register again.
If you moved to a new town or ward, or if you never registered in your town before, you need to register in order to vote.
If possible, register in advance at your town or city clerk's office, up to 6-13 days before an election (this 6-13 days period when no registrations are accepted will vary depending on specific elections--check with town/city clerk's office).
NH law allows voters to register on election day. Be aware this will take extra time at the polls. Be sure to bring requested documents to speed up the process.

If you wish to run for public office, you must be a registered voter in that party before the filing period opens.

HOW TO REGISTER Three choices:

1. Apply at your town or city clerk's office. You will be required to fill out a voter registration form and will be asked to show proof of identity, age, citizenship and where you live.

2. Register with your community's Supervisors of the Checklist. By law they are required to meet once, between 6 and 13 days prior to each election (will vary by elections). Check the local newspaper or call your clerk's office for the place, date and time of such meeting. You will be required to fill out a voter registration form and will be asked to show proof of identity, age, citizenship and where you live.

3. You may register to vote at the polling place on election day at all elections (similar documents will be requested.)

DOCUMENTS NEEDED TO REGISTER:

When you register, you will fill out a form giving your name, age, place of birth, local residence, previous voting address if you were registered to vote somewhere else, and a driver's license identification number or the last four digits of your social security number if you have one. You will be asked to read and sign a statement saying you understand voting fraud is a crime.

You will also be asked for documents to prove your identity, age, citizenship, and where you live in the voting district. A driver's license with your current address can be offered for identity, age, and where you live. A birth certificate (if you have not since changed your name) or naturalization papers or US Passport can prove citizenship.

If you don't have documents for identity, age, citizenship, and where you live, you can sign a paper attesting to the truth of the information you have given.

You may register with a specific party, or you may leave party affiliation blank on the registration form.

YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE

If you are qualified to be a voter in your voting district, you cannot be denied the right to vote. You should bring the best available documents with you. If you register on Election Day you cannot be turned away or required to leave the polling place to get any documents on Election Day.

Once you have registered to vote, you will be directed to the Ballot Clerk to receive your ballot. The next time you vote, you can go straight to the Ballot Clerk and announce your name.

For further registration information, including that related to absentee registration and ballots, college students, overseas citizens and armed services, please see the Secretary of State, Elections Division web page

The preceding information is mostly based on information from the Attorney General's office and the Elections page of the Secretary of State's website, http://sos.nh.gov/electfaq.aspx, and state law.

Students--register to vote

High school and college students who wish to register to vote can get information on how to do that from this brochure. (Updated 11/7/18)

You can give this flier to a young person you care about and encourage him/her to register and vote.

"The voices that are heard the loudest are the voices of those who vote."

College students

Please note that as of Nov. 7, 2018, college students who wish to register in the town where they live while attending college will be not be required to supply written proof of where they live. However, they are encouraged to bring such documents, if they have them. Documents on a cell phone can be used to offer proof of where you live, such as a dorm assignment.

College students who prefer to vote in their home states or home communities may do so using absentee ballots if they will not be home on election day.

Voting by Absentee Ballot

If you are already registered but know you won't be able to go to the polls on Election Day because of disability, religious beliefs, work schedule, military service, or temporary absence, you may use an absentee ballot to vote. (Note that "work schedule" includes care of young children or the infirm, even if you are not paid for that work.)

You may get an absentee ballot application at your Town or City Clerk's office until 5:00 P.M. on the day before election day.
If you plan to mail an absentee ballot, it must be received at the Town Clerk's office by 5:00 P.M. on Election Day.
Absentee ballots may NOT be faxed. They may, however, be hand-delivered by a relative with an ID on election day.

To get an absentee ballot for state and federal elections by mail, fill out and mail or fax the official absentee ballot application well in advance to your town or city clerk's office. You are not required to have a photo ID to vote absentee. Your signature on the inner absentee ballot envelope will be checked against your signature on the application.

Finding YOUR districts or polling places

Voting information from the NH Secretary of State's website:

To find out which district you are in for the Congressional representatives as well as state Senate, state House, and Executive Council, go to http://sos.nh.gov/VoteDist.aspx

Not sure where you should go to vote? Not sure of the hours to vote? You can click on "By Street Address" then type in your street address and choose Odd or Even for the house number on this secure site of the NH Secretary of State's website and find out the address for your polling place: http://app.sos.nh.gov/Public/PollingPlaceSearch.aspx

Nashua voters guide 2018

Thanks to LWV and the LWVNH unit in Nashua, here are the positions of many of the candidates on the ballot in Nashua! The document has clickable links to specific answers or websites.

Elections in NH

Elections in major cities for city offices and school board are held in November (Franklin election is in October). City primaries, if needed, are generally held in September or October.

Elections for town and school board offices are held in many towns on the second Tuesday in March. Some towns hold elections on the second Tuesday in May instead. Some SB2 towns hold the ballot session on the second Tuesday in April. Deliberative sessions in SB2 towns and school districts are held before the voting day(call your town clerk to confirm dates). Town meeting may be held on the same day as elections or a subsequent date. See more below under Town Meetings.

If you are registered with a party and you wish to vote or run in another party's primary in the future, you must change your party affiliation. Dates will be announced. Supervisors of the checklist will meet (probably at your town office) for a few hours to process these requests. Phone your town or city clerk for hours and place. Anyone wishing to run for office in the primary and who is not already a registered voter must register before the filing date.

If you have questions about your voting rights, you may contact the Secretary of State, 603-271-3242, the Attorney General, 603-271-3658, or the League, 603-225-5344.

Know Your Elected Officials brochures

These brochures prepared by local Leagues contain town offices websites and phone numbers, names and contact information of state representatives and senators, and other state and federal elected officials information.

Download the 2019 "Know Your Elected Officials" brochure covering Nashua prepared by the LWVNH Nashua Unit. download the pdf
Note that there will be a special election on March 5, 2019. This brochure will be updated after that; the rest is current for the first part of 2019.

Elected Officials & Roll Call Voting Records

STATE INFORMATION

To find names and contact information for your State Representatives or Senator, use the search engine at the New Hampshire General Court's web page. To examine current state legislation or research the voting records of state legislators, see the New Hampshire General Court's web page.

Click on these links to find names and contact information for your United States Representative or United States Senators. This information was updated Feb. 2017. You can also sign up for weekly email newsletters from your Representative and Senators via their websites.

If you wish to contact your US Representative or Senator, be aware that paper mail is likely to be delayed significantly for security reasons. You may phone DC or NH offices, or you may send email via the Contact webform on each official's website.

View the Library of Congress' web page for comprehensive information on current and past federal legislation.

You can search a specific session to look up roll call votes during that session, and to check the records of specific members.

For the U.S. Congress to find out who voted on a particular bill click here

If you want to look up a particular U.S. Congressperson / Senator's voting record click here.

Town Meetings

Elections for town and school board offices are held in many towns in March (second Tuesday). Some towns hold elections in May (second Tuesday) instead. Deliberative sessions in SB2 towns and school districts are held earlier (call your town clerk to confirm dates). Town meeting (where residents actively participate in discussion and voting on warrant articles in their towns) may be held on the same day as elections or a subsequent date.

Voting statistics and court rulings

On October 26, 2018, the NH Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Secretary of State that changing the registration procedures so close to the November election could "...result in voter confusion and consequent incentive to remain away from the polls." Thus the requirement to prove domicile as defined under SB3 remains in effect for the Nov. 6 election, in spite of the superior court ruling below. No penalty, however, will be imposed on someone for failure to return with domicile paperwork. People registering on election day who don't have proof of where they live WILL BE GIVEN A BALLOT and a list of documents they might produce within a few weeks of the election to prove where they live.

Here is the NH Supreme Court ruling: THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE SUPREME COURT
In Case No. 2018-0208, Petition of New Hampshire Secretary of State & a., the court on October 26, 2018, issued the following order:

Upon consideration of the Emergency Motion to Stay filed by the defendants, William M. Gardner, in his official capacity as the New Hampshire Secretary of State, and Gordon MacDonald, in his official capacity as the New Hampshire Attorney General, and the objection filed by the plaintiffs, the League of Women Voters of New Hampshire, Douglas Marino, Garrett Muscatel, Adriana Lopera, Phillip Dragone, Spencer Anderson, Seysha Mehta, and the New Hampshire Democratic Party, the court hereby grants the motion. In granting this stay, the court expresses no opinion on the merits of the plaintiffs' underlying challenge to Laws 2017, Chapter 205 (also known as "SB 3"). However, the court is persuaded that, regardless of the merits, the timing of the preliminary injunction, entered by the trial court a mere two weeks before the November 6 election, creates both a substantial risk of confusion and disruption of the orderly conduct of the election, and the prospect that similarly situated voters may be subjected to differing voter registration and voting procedures in the same election cycle. For example, under the trial court's orders, the provisions of SB 3, which have been in effect since September 2017 and which the plaintiffs assert are confusing and intimidating, will remain in effect until election day. Yet persons who seek to register on election day will not be subjected to these same procedures. "These inconsistencies will impair the public interest." Veasey v. Perry, 769 F.3d 890, 896 (5th Cir.), motion to vacate stay denied, 135 S. Ct. 9 (2014).
We are not alone in declining to interfere with a fast-approaching election. See id. at 892 (granting emergency motion to stay trial court order enjoining voter photo identification law on ground that it was unconstitutional); Colón-Marrero v. Conty-Pérez, 703 F.3d 134, 139 (1st Cir. 2012) (declining to issue a preliminary injunction requiring the plaintiff and 300,000 other voters to be reinstated, even though the plaintiff had demonstrated likelihood of success on the merits, because doing so, "on the eve of a major election" would "disrupt long-standing election procedures"). Indeed, in Williams v. Rhodes, 393 U.S. 23, 34-35 (1968), "[t]he Supreme Court . . . declined to interfere . . . , even after finding that . . . ballots unconstitutionally excluded certain candidates." Veasey, 769 F.3d at 893. More recently, the Court has "stayed injunctions issued based on findings that changes in an election law were discriminatory." Id. at 896 (Costa, J., concurring in the judgment) (citing cases). "[T]he Supreme Court's recent decisions in this area" evidence that "its concern about confusion resulting from court changes to election laws close in time to the election should carry the day in the stay analysis." Id. at 897.

As the Court has cautioned, "Court orders affecting elections, especially conflicting orders, can themselves result in voter confusion and consequent incentive to remain away from the polls." Purcell v. Gonzalez, 549 U.S. 1, 4-5 (2006). In the apportionment context, the Supreme Court has instructed that, "[i]n awarding or withholding immediate relief, a court is entitled to and should consider the proximity of a forthcoming election and the mechanics and complexities of state election laws, and should act and rely upon general equitable principles." Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 585 (1964). Accordingly, "under certain circumstances, such as where an impending election is imminent and a State's election machinery is already in progress, equitable considerations might justify a court in withholding the granting of immediately effective relief in a legislative apportionment case, even though the existing apportionment scheme was found invalid." Id.; cf. Benisek v. Lamone, 138 S. Ct. 1942, 1944 (2018) (deciding that, even if the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claim that Maryland's congressional redistricting map was an unconstitutional political gerrymander, "the balance of equities and the public interest tilt[ ] against their request for a preliminary injunction"). For all of the above reasons, therefore, we grant the defendants' emergency motion for a stay. The orders of the Superior Court (Brown, J.) dated October 22, 2018, and October 25, 2018, granting a preliminary injunction in favor of the plaintiffs are hereby stayed and shall not take effect until after the conclusion of the election on November 6, 2018. Until this stay expires, the temporary restraining order entered by the Trial Court (Temple, J.) on September 12, 2017, enjoining the enforcement of the civil and criminal penalty provisions of SB 3, remains in full force and effect.

June 8, 2018 Judge Temple has recused himself from the trial in which the League of Women Voters NH is suing the Secretary of State over SB3, the voter registration bill passed in 2017. The trial was previously scheduled for Aug. 20-31, 2018. League does not know yet know what the trial date will be as the case is moved to another judge's courtroom.
Read the Union Leader article here.

We are pleased that Judge Temple has denied this frivolous attempt to dismiss the ongoing lawsuit against SB 3, a law that unfairly and unnecessarily burdens eligible New Hampshire residents who want to register to vote, including in particular college students and people who are new to the state, who have recently moved, or who have less stable housing arrangements. Secretary of State Gardner has already been enjoined from implementing the punishment part of this law. The case proceeds to a full trial this summer (scheduled for the last two weeks of August.)

Sept. 12, 2017 Ruling in SB3 preliminary injunction suit. Judge Temple in Hillsborough District Court this morning issued a ruling that the procedures for voter registration under SB3 may be used for the special election today in the Laconia area, but that any penalty for failing to return papers shall not be imposed. He also directed the Secretary of State to educate the voters about the new registration procedures (something that has not happened, via website or a public information campaign).

On the matter of whether the League of Women Voters NH has standing in the case as it moves forward, details to be explained later. Stay tuned to news. The actual trial of the case has been scheduled for the last two weeks of August 2018. Until then, SB3 without penalties remains in effect for municipal and special elections.

New in 2016: 17-year-olds may register to vote if they will be 18 by the time of the next scheduled election. Someone who is currently 17 may go to the town or city clerk's office to register before the election, provided he/she will turn 18 on or before the actual election date.
The same 6-13 days "black-out period" between acceptance of registration forms by the town/city clerk and the actual election apply to all who wish to register. (This is to allow printing of the updated registered voters lists--begging your town/city clerk to accept your registration a couple of days before an election won't work.)

May 15, 2015 The NH Supreme Court today issued its ruling about the voter registration form, supporting the earlier court's decision that ruled it is unconstitutional to have language in the voter registration form requiring registration of a car in NH if one claims NH as voting domicile. This makes the League very happy. The decision can be read here

July 25, 2014: The injunction against the voter registration form (proposed by the legislature in 2012) that would have required a voter to also register a car and get a NH drivers license has just been made permanent. The League was a plaintive in the original suit, along with 4 students, to stop this blatant attempt to disenfranchise student voters, temporary military residents, and others. Read the details

Sept. 16, 2015 The legislation vetoed by Governor Maggie Hassan that would have required 30-days residence to vote will not become law. An attempt to override the Governor's veto failed. There is no time requirement for living in a particular place in NH in order to vote.

Redistricting

Redistricting is a serious matter. How districts are drawn can determine which party has the better chance of winning votes. The League has a position in favor of a non-partisan redistricting commission and has testified in the NH legislature in favor of such bills. We did so again in 2017. NH will face redistricting again after the 2020 census.

On a lighter note, this Youtube video explains in a satiric way just what the problem with gerrymandering is.
view the video